Seven

It had been a week since I received the letter, and being the coward I was, I didn’t reply to it. Be it in verbal form, handwritten or a text message. I had been diligently avoiding every possible place that I might bump into her too, to the point that I used the different route going to and fro my university.

Because everything that Hyun Ae stated in the letter was true—about Mum, ‘Ricky’, me unable to forget Aeri and thus trying to change Hyun Ae into her, the perfume that I gave Hyun Ae. Even the things that I barely knew, such as accidentally calling her Aeri...

They hit me like a bullet train.

In the so-called attempt to get rid of my sorrow and endless feelings of guilt, I had resorted to drinking in the past few nights. To say the least, I didn’t exactly have the nicest days at school after those nights of alcohol.

Thus, to avoid such meaningless cycle from repeating itself the next day, I had finally decided to stop running away, and do the most possible and rational thing to handle the current situations: reflect. I sat on a bench in the univeristy's public park at 5 PM that day—a week after the day I received the letter—after barely surviving classes. I closed my eyes, forcing my mind to remember things about Hyun Ae. Hyun Ae, the slightly dark-skinned lady, but always had a positive aura around her, who majored in Maths and Computing.

She had a faint dimple on her right cheek when she smiled. One had to see hard to notice that it was actually a dimple, not just a dent of her high cheekbones.

The prominent mole that was just by the left side of her lips left me a deep impression. Because that particular beauty mark reminded me of my best friend, Jonghyun. Except that Jonghyun had his on his right cheek.

Hyun Ae was much taller than... her. Most of the time, she was seen comfortable wearing flats. Maybe because of the fact that she was tall enough even on her bare feet. Her real height reached half of my head when we stood next to each other.

She read during her leisure time. “It’s a pleasant break from all those figures, you see,” she claimed, referring to the course she was taking. A hobby which explained the informative ‘did you know’ facts that she threw to me once in a while.

She always claimed that she had a smelly breath, and thus had the insecurity of the feeling of unbrushed teeth. She told me that she would always brush her teeth before going out—even if it was just to grab a snack from a nearby convenience store—or at least rinse after having meals, because according to her, brushing your teeth right after having your meal was not advisable.

Hyun Ae had her clumsy side too. Very often, she almost tripped on her own feet while walking. However, instead of being embarrassed by it, she just laughed at her own clumsiness and eventually brushed it off. Not to mention those multiple occasions where she forgot where she last placed her phone pouch.

Hyun Ae could be quite forgetful as well. Like that certain instance when we were in a supermarket on the day she decided to help me with my groceries. A woman, presumably in her late thirties, was noticed smiling fondly towards Hyun Ae, as if knowing the latter. Not once, but multiple times. Basically it’s every time we happened to bump into each other in the supermarket.

Hyun Ae, being the ‘social butterfly’ she was, responded the woman with equally warm smiles. No words were exhanged—only smiles. However, when I asked her who the woman was, her reply almost made me snort in disbelief. “Hmm, I’m not sure...but I think I’ve seen her before though...” She figured it out only after a half an hour we left the supermarket. The woman turned out to be the owner of a flower shop, not far from where Hyun Ae used to have her part-time job at.

Due to her forgetful nature, she had to rely heavily on the to-do notes in her phone.

She was the type who smiled often but laughed mutedly. She had the habit of chewing the straw’s end while drinking. She was one of those people who are very careful when descending staircases.

But, despite noticing all this...

I opened my eyes, before staring sullenly at the park fountain in front of me.

I didn’t know her exact birthday. I just knew the fact that we were same age.

I didn’t know her favourite colour either. True, her belongings were varying in colours, but she must have had a soft spot for a certain colour.

I also noticed that she hummed along to almost every song that was played on the radio, but I didn’t even know her preference in music, which song genres she liked. Ballad? Hip hop? Rap? She did mention that she liked this certain local rap artist, but I barely caught on who. Did she have any bias idol group as well?

Come to think of it. She never really told me about her family. How many family members did she have?

I don’t know, I don’t know. I shook my head. I pressed the palms of my hand to my eyes, before breathing out a heavy sigh.

I was so...insensitive. Selfish. I went out with her for almost 100 days, yet there were still things I didn’t know about her.

No.

I ran a hand up my face, rubbing it carelessly for finally realizing something.

No. It's not that I didn’t know.

It was more like I didn’t make an effort to know about them, to ask, or even remember them well.

Admitting it painfully, she was exactly on spot when she said that I didn’t care about our relationship, and for her to actually point it out...

I was ashamed of myself.

Hyun Ae. I whispered her name once again. Shin Hyun Ae.

I felt like giving myself a standing ovation for not even knowing her last name. I only found it out from her signature at the end of the letter.

I sighed again, for the nth time that day.

The conversation I had with Chanhee Hyung two days earlier suddenly flashed in my mind. It was when I bumped into him and Byunghun Hyung on their way to have a treat from the younger, in which afterwards, Byunghun Hyung decided to bring me along as well.

[ A/N ]

A chapter which mainly talked about Hyun Ae's character, and Changhyun's...realization.

Anyway, second update of the week and woots, Chanhee's in the next chapter!

New subscriber: kyla_mikhaela_p

Thank you! And wow, two chapters left, people!

Posted: 24/01/2014, 02:45